Verge editor laments the perverse incentives of SEO rankings.

5 points

I’ve long heard arguments in favor of laser printers, but after finding out that every laser printer is printing yellow tracking dots on every page it prints, it’s made me question if I actually want one. I haven’t been able to find any confirmation that inkjet printers have tracking dots. It’s very possible some do, but in comparison it sounds like every laser printer does.

I currently have an Epson ecotank, to refill it I just pour ink in from a bottle. The ink is super cheap (at least compared to regular inkjets, and there’s no way for them to restrict what brand of liquid ink I use. Honestly it’s a very decent printing experience, and I’m not sure I’d be better off with a Brother Laser.

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21 points

Only color laser printers put those yellow dots on paper. The black and white ones don’t because they can’t: They don’t have yellow toner.

So get a black and white printer and you’ll be fine.

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6 points

I don’t want to be that guy, but if they really want to be tracking prints, black and white printing does not need to make it impossible. There’s other ways to code information.

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6 points

There is, but since color printers are the ones that were used in counterfeiting most black and white printers don’t do that sort of thing. Plus I don’t know how you’d encode that much information in black and white without making it visible on the paper.

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5 points

Hey, that’s my printer!

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4 points

Someone needs a decaf.

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2 points

This reminds me of an old joke:

An SEO copywriter walks into a bar, pub, Irish bar, drinks, beer, wine, whiskey, cocktails, liquor.

But since then the situation has gotten a lot shittier.

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23 points

“we are all printers”

Well, this would explain why frequently just refuse to work.

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13 points

I appreciate the ambiguity in your comment created by the missing pronoun.

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2 points

you are a printer we are all printers

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